


Paroxysm

by nicayal



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Alcohol, Alternate Universe - College/University, Bisexuality, Cards Against Humanity, Final Exams, M/M, Truth or Dare, potato chips
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-05
Updated: 2015-09-05
Packaged: 2018-04-19 02:14:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,958
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4728968
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nicayal/pseuds/nicayal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After a hellish college exams period, Riku is not in the mood for socializing. He's not in the mood for seeing his friends make out, get shit-faced on subpar quality alcohol, or embarrass themselves playing stupid party games they should've outgrown in high school. And he's definitely not in the mood to get reminded multiple times in the same drawn-out night about how romantically unattainable his childhood best friend happens to be.</p><p>SoRiku one-shot based on the prompt 'paroxysm', written for AkuRokuRiSo Month 2015.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Paroxysm

**Author's Note:**

> **Prompt** : Paroxysm  
>  **Pairing** : SoRiku  
>  **Rating** : T (for language and one hetero kiss no one asked for)  
>  **Word count** : 2,971  
>  **Prompter** : WL

par·ox·ysmˈ

/perəkˌsizəm/

_a sudden attack or violent expression of a particular emotion or activity._

It was supposed to be nothing more than a simple game of Cards Against Humanity. After the semester he'd just endured though, Riku wasn't confident he had the energy even just for that. If not for Sora's persistent coaxing earlier that afternoon, he doubted he'd have even bothered leaving his dorm room. He wasn't in the mood to be social; not now, and probably not until he'd packed up, survived the train ride, and was seated on the ferry bound for home at the rate he was going.

But Sora had insisted, and card games - with maybe a few drinks to supplement - would be relatively simple to get through regardless of mood, he figured. Easy enough. Okay, whatever.

Simple it might actually have been, too, had Demyx not decided to swing his sitar like a damn color guard baton as he flitted around the cramped space of Axel's off-campus apartment. Short and sweet and simple, even, had he not clipped the edge of the instrument against a full bottle of tequila. Half a second later, it had taken a nosedive straight onto the open black box containing their sole form of planned entertainment, sloshing its contents with aqueous enthusiasm before coming to rest on a shag rug that dated the space by no less than a two decade timespan, bare minimum.

While Kairi and Sora seemed to take it in stride, and Zexion reacted with a trademark roll of his eyes, Riku was less content to sit and shoot the shit about untold inane topics as a viable card game alternative. He was exhausted, also irritated. Although a great deal of both had to do with pulling consecutive all-nighters for last-minute sessions of college class rote memorization, he couldn't help but feel that the pair of college boys sucking face on the couch across from him was also a contributing factor, at least when it came to stoking his lingering irritableness.

While Demyx did his best to look contrite about effectively sinking the ship of their planned game night, Kairi and Sora hopped up in tandem, headed over to the far side of the living room, and proceeded to lay the soggy cards out onto a plastic folding table Axel had no doubt set up in anticipation of his friends' arrival.

"There should be a card in the deck for a situation like this," Kairi said while Demyx thrummed an unrecognizable tune, his prancing antics now abandoned as he sat crossed-legged on the floor next to Riku. The sound grated on already well-frayed nerves, and it took a concerted effort not to reach over and pluck a handful of the wiry strings straight off the front of the sitar. There was something poetic about the notion of strangling someone with parts of their own musical instrument, Riku decided, although he kept the thought to himself.

In truth, he was only even entertaining this line of murderous thought to keep his mind off other things. Another person, specifically.

Of course, the moment he realized his mental intention, Riku found himself glancing over at Sora, just in time to see Kairi nudge him affectionately with one shoulder. Sora offered a toothy grin, then leaned over and whispered conspiratorially into her ear. Both snickered, shoulders brushing together, reflecting a closeness of two who'd known each other since the halcyon days of grade school.

Sora looked up a split second later, before Riku had time to avert his gaze from the scene in front of him.

For a moment, both boys stared at one another, Riku's expression schooled and cautious, Sora's expressive, the remnants of a good-natured grin still lingering at the corners of his mouth. It'd always been like this for the two of them; for as long as they'd known one another, Riku's approach to others had been steeped in reticence, Sora's demeanor welcoming, friendlier.

This was probably why Sora had always been popular with girls, especially since they'd arrived at college. Despite what seemed like a genuine effort on Sora's part to maintain the same friendship dynamics he'd shared with Kairi and Riku since childhood, college and new friends had undeniably strained it, for one of them more than the other. Adding girls and dating to the equation just tipped insult in the direction of increasing injury, at least from Riku's perspective.

Sora'd still spent plenty of time with him throughout the school year. Riku couldn't complain on those grounds, and a lack of his friend's presence or enduring attention hadn't been the catalyst for the chasm he worried was widening between them. It was simply that their time together was more or less spent talking through the ins and outs of dating other people, boys for Riku (at least hypothetically since he hadn't yet actually gone on a date with anyone, having only just come out at the beginning of the school year), and girls with Sora (much less a prospective hypothetical as he'd been avidly dating since their junior year of high school).

True to form, Riku had remained quiet, simply listening to the play-by-plays of Sora's various dating escapades as the college year wore on, offering as little commentary as he thought he could get by with. He maintained this attitude, noncommittal but purportedly supportive, despite Sora's myriad petitions for helpful advice on the best way to ask people out, on what might be a good place to take a first date, even how to tell someone he really liked them. No one liked a sore loser, and unrequited feelings were the fodder of daytime soap operas, as far as Riku was concerned. If Sora was happy, he supposed he could be content with retaining the title of best friend and take a genuine stab at showing a modicum of interest in Sora's blossoming love life, however much it secretly pained him.

Sora's smile grew as the span of their visual exchange endured, and Riku felt a flutter in his chest, a heat building up in the pit of his stomach with each passing second that their eyes remained connected.

Nevertheless, it was Riku who looked away first.

"Hey. Hey, guys. I had a thought."

Perched on the arm of a couch Axel'd bought secondhand from the apartment's last tenant, Larxene scoffed and shot Demyx a snide look. "That'd be a fucking first."

Avoiding the temptation to look back over at Sora, Riku glanced at Demyx next to him, noting Zexion's subtle shift in focus over to his boyfriend as well. Theirs was a relationship Riku would never be able to reason his way through. The music major and a science student: a real-life example of the opposites attract cliché, he supposed. Best not to ask questions when he wasn't particularly eager to hear an overshare of an answer on Demyx's part though. Besides, the two were Axel's friends, not really anything more than casual acquaintances to him.

As Sora and Kairi rejoined the rest of the group, with drinks and bags of chips and other assorted junk food by the armload, Riku took time to note that even Axel and Roxas had come up for air to listen to what Demyx had to say.

Or maybe they were just taking a momentary breather. Swim team-seasoned though he was, Riku thought the pair of them could give him a run for his money when it came to enduring spans of oxygen impoverishment.

Small miracles anyway though, Riku supposed. He'd take whatever eye-burn reprieve he could get from those two, whatever the ultimate reason behind it.

Demyx reacted in a perfectly infantile manner before continuing, eyes closed and tongue stuck out like a ten year old in Larxene's general direction.

"How about something old school?" His expression softened as fingers flexed over his instrument again, and Riku took a moment to wonder if they were all about to be subjected to another round of shitty improvised singing before the night was through.

"Something like Truth or Dare. That's simple enough, right?"

Riku watched Kairi begin to distribute plastic cups and pour everyone drinks while Sora dumped his armful of snack food on the center coffee table. Glancing at Riku, Sora tossed him a bag of chips, before settling down on an oversized beanbag chair next to Kairi.

Gaze traveling one person over, Sora looked at Demyx and offered his patented lopsided smile. "That could be fun."

Riku took a long swig of vodka something-or-another in response. This had the potential to be painful. Or possibly just juvenile.

Only half-paying attention as the game got started, Riku found himself staring at Sora with increasing brazenness the more vodka sloshed into his stomach (and tequila, and rum, and even something Demyx claimed was absinthe, which he doubted anyone truly took seriously). The dares were relatively tame and straightforward, the most risqué involving Roxas getting challenged to kiss Larxene, which Riku suspected no one had actually wanted to see if the exaggerated groaning that sounded throughout the room while the dare was being executed was any indication.

Thanks for that one, Dem.

At least it'd gotten him off Axel's lap. Maybe this game had some redeeming qualities after all.

By the time it was Sora's turn to ask a question, Riku was more than a little buzzed. It took him a prolonged moment to realize that Sora had probably just noticed the intensity of his ongoing ogling as he turned toward Riku as his next truth or dare heir apparent. Mercifully, he didn't seem interested in commenting on it in front of the others.

"Hey, Riku." Brows rising, Sora posed the standard beginning inquiry. "Truth or dare?"

The room seemed to suddenly quiet, the alcohol warping his perception of background noise and assorted chatter as Riku tried to stifle the heat doggedly trying to rise from his neck into both sides of his face. In reality, there was no difference between his turn or any of the others, except for the minor detail that Sora's singular focus was on him now.

Licking his lips, acutely aware of the lingering sticky-sweetness of his penultimate drink mixer, Riku quickly assessed his options. Considering he wasn't confident in his ability to walk even a short straight line at the moment, and he definitely wasn't in the mood to lock lips with the likes of Larxene (or Axel, or Demyx, and the list only grew in exponentials from there)...

"Truth."

His voice was such a low murmur he couldn't be sure Sora had so much heard it as read the mono-syllabic answer from the shape his mouth had formed. Still self-conscious, Riku reached for the half-empty drink he'd placed on the coffee table a few minutes earlier, lifted it to his lips, and considered the associated mental fog benefits of finishing off what remained in one extended swig.

"Okay." With only the smallest hint of a smile, Sora tilted his head, then launched straight into his question. "Would you say bisexuals have the best of both worlds?"

The liquid caught halfway between his mouth and throat, and Riku nearly performed a spit-take straight onto his lap. As it was, the hard swallow that followed Sora's question induced an unpleasant burn of 70-proof alcohol from the back of his tongue down to the base of his throat. As Riku brought one hand to his mouth and tried not to overtly cough a lung up, Axel added his own form of commentary from over on the couch.

"Sora, what the fuck?" With a loud guffaw, Axel rocked back in his seat, eliciting a small sound of protest from Roxas as he scooted away and tried to avoid getting crushed. "Where the hell did that come from?"

Yeah, Riku thought, my thoughts just about exactly.

Expression a picture of angelic innocence, Sora merely shrugged but kept his eyes on Riku. "It's a simple yes or no answer. I think I'm letting him off pretty easy, considering what Roxas just got subjected to with Larxene."

Demyx cackled as Larxene shot Sora a sassy smile and flipped him off with two upturned middle fingers.

Still flustered, Riku looked down, then mumbled a quiet, "yeah, I guess they do." There was no doubt in his mind that his cheeks were burning now. After Sora's verbal nod toward Roxas and Larxene, he only hoped that no one was really paying attention to him.

There was also the emerging confusion as to why Sora had asked the question in the first place, the finer concerns of which were still being clouded by an effective level of already consumed alcohol.

He fumbled his turn at posing his own truth or dare scenario (Zexion was able to recite the alphabet backwards with perfect enunciation and zero hesitation, that over-educated motherfucker), then proceeded to zone out for the rest of the night, eyes directed vaguely at his lap, closed expression ensuring no one else would expend the effort required to catch his attention and call on him again.

He couldn't tell exactly how much time had passed before Sora pushed himself up off the bean bag chair and ambled over to him. In his intoxicated haze, Riku wasn't even sure if anyone was still bothering to play Demyx's stupid game. Vaguely, he heard the strum of a sitar beside him, then the rise-and-fall cadence of Kairi and Larxene's animated voices as they chatted nearby. He'd also noted that Zexion had changed positions, had moved closer to talk to Axel, whose arm was lazily resting across the back of Roxas' shoulders as he drifted between consciousness and sleep at a baseline incidence rate of every five minutes.

"Having fun?"

Riku looked up, watched as Sora lowered himself down to a seated position next to him without waiting for an answer.

"Mind if I…?" Sora inclined his head toward the long-forgotten bag of chips by Riku's side.

"Oh." He looked down, sluggish thoughts taking a moment to process the request before making a grab for the bag and passing it off.

For a moment, they sat in silence, Sora munching happily, Riku watching with frustrating muteness and an awkward visual preoccupation as Sora licked the remnants of potato chip salt off each individual finger in tandem.

Noting Riku's gaze, Sora grinned a little. "You look really out of it. Long-ass finals period for you too?"

Riku nodded, but didn't elaborate, just watched as Sora stuck his hand back into the chip bag. Despite the alcoholic fog that had taken sovereignty over what few coherent thoughts were still circulating at this point in the evening, something was still nagging at his mental peripherals, something that'd been bothering him now for half the night.

"Can I ask you something?"

Sora looked up. Mouth still full of chips, he nodded and made an unintelligible sound that Riku interpreted as an invitation to continue.

"I was wondering why you asked me that bisexual question."

Riku reached for the bag between them, emerging with a generous handful chips in an attempt to keep himself occupied on something other than Sora's steady gaze. A few wayward strands of hair fell across his face with the movement, but Riku didn't reach to brush them away, preferring his newfound obscured vision over having to look Sora directly in the eyes.

"Because I'm not," he said, voice dropping a register back into the territory of an outright mumble, head still inclined, Sora visible only out of the corner of one eye. "I'm not bisexual, I mean."

He shoved the chips into his mouth, determined not to dig himself a deeper hole by saying anything further.

"Hmm." Sora nodded, an intimation of a smile still present, expression turning thoughtful as he watched Riku's jaw work over the food he'd just consumed. Riku had just enough time to register an outstretched hand before he felt the tips of Sora's fingers ghosting across the side of his face.

He froze at the gentle touch, mouth still half full of food but jaw going still, unable to direct his gaze past the smile that was more fully materializing on his friend's face with each passing moment. As Sora tucked the hair back in place behind his ear, he leaned forward, ducking his head down enough so he could meet Riku's eyes again.

"That makes one of us then, I guess."

Sora's hand lingered just a moment longer, eyes wide and expression meaningful, as he waited for evidence that his words had registered.

Brows rising, Riku sucked in a surprised breath — and a smattering of half-chewed potato chip shards in the process. Red-faced, the sound he made as he began to half-choke, half-cough wasn't smooth, didn't come off as even remotely suave in the face of Sora's fresh admission.

"Whoah there, buddy. No need to inhale 'em. There's plenty to go around."

It was Demyx who slapped him hard on the back in the midst of his sage advice, the others turning toward the disturbance to see what was happening on the heels of Sora's good-natured laughter and an amused, suspiciously knowing look from Kairi.

Okay, so maybe an end of semester game night hadn't ended up being as simple to wing his way through as Riku'd initially assumed.

The embarrassment of nearly choking to death on a Frito Lays potato chip paled in comparison to the revelation he'd just been offered. As Riku excused himself, citing the need to retrieve water from the kitchen, he could feel Sora's eyes again, traveling along with him until he disappeared out of his line of sight. This time on his return back to the living room, Riku was determined not to be the first to look away.


End file.
